Grossly Negligent: NYPD Sued for Shooting Innocent Bystanders

By Katie Pavlich

1/22/2013

As the gun control debate rages on with New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg leading the way, a woman in North Carolina is suing the New York City Police Department after they shot her and nine other people two months ago while trying to take out a single person near the Empire State Building.

A North Carolina college student hit by police gunfire during a shooting outside the Empire State Building argued in a lawsuit Tuesday that the police department and the officers involved need better training to deal with such confrontations in the future.

Nine bystanders, including 32-year-old Chenin Duclos, were hit by police bullets, ricochets and fragments when two officers fired at a man suspected of gunning down a former co-worker outside the Manhattan landmark.

Duclos said in a lawsuit filed Tuesday in Manhattan’s state Supreme Court that the department and the officers were “grossly negligent” in the way they handled the shooting — firing 16 shots on a crowded street outside one of the world’s largest tourist attractions.

Amy Marion, an attorney representing Duclos in the lawsuit, said the NYPD needs to improve training.

“They consistently fail to properly train employees and officers in the settings they will encounter,” she said.

All nine bystanders caught in the crossfire of a shooting outside New York City’s iconic Empire State Building were wounded by two police officers who had never fired their weapons on duty, authorities confirmed Saturday.

Officer Craig Matthews fired seven times and Officer Robert Sinishtaj fired nine times at Jeffrey Johnson on a busy Friday morning in the highly touristed area after Johnson shot a former co-worker to death and then pointed his pistol at them.

Based on ballistic tests and other evidence, “it appears that all nine of the victims were struck either by fragments or by bullets fired by police,” Commissioner Raymond Kelly said Saturday.

So, when you hear people argue that “the cops are the only people who should have guns,” think again.